City Fined Nearly $6K For Chlorine Fish Kill

PFLUGERVILLE, TX -- State environmental regulators have assessed the city with a fine of nearly $6,000 for a chlorine dump that killed more than 1,500 fish last year.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) officials have fined the city $5,775 for accidentally discharging 100,000 gallons of highly chlorinated water into a storm drain that flowed into Gilleland Creek last March. The high concentrations of chlorine killed 1,509 fish, KXAN-TV reports.

The discharge occurred in mid-March during construction of a pump station. City workers and a contractor inadvertently dumped the gas-infused water into the storm drain, according to a TCEQ report.

Workers sanitized the equipment suffused with the highly chlorinated water -- a requirement when dealing with the matter. But they’re also supposed to add chemicals in order to de-chlorinate the water, which didn’t happen.

Assistant City Manager Tom Word told the news station that city crews and the contractor simply failed to follow correct protocol, and assured such incidents wouldn’t happen in the future.

“In general, it was a failure by staff, and the contractor to recognize the fact that the water wasn’t de-chlorinated yet,” he told KXAN. “We have taken several steps because of this incident to make sure this would not happen again.”

Gilleland Creek runs through the heart of the city, ending at the Colorado River near Webberville, the station noted. TCEQ officials noted city crews disposed of the dead fish within a day of the dumping incident.

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